Close range free air blast tests have been conducted to understand the energy absorption behaviour of a single recyclable empty beverage can (cola can) available in the market. The idea is to make a macro-foam (sacrificial cladding structure) out of these cans to protect the main load bearing members of civil engineering structures from the air blast load. To conduct such an air blast test a special small-scale test set-up was designed and manufactured. The effect of inertia of outer skin panel on the energy absorption of the core members and the influence of finite surface area of outer skin panel on the clearing of reflected pressure waves were studied. The measured blast parameters from the experimental tests are compared with CONWEP predicted data. In order to understand the crushing mechanism and the energy absorption of a single beverage can in detail a numerical simulation using Johnson-Cook material model was carried out. The commercially available ABAQUS V6.7-3 Explicit code was used for this study. Finally the results (deformation pattern and the corresponding energy absorption) from the numerical study are compared with the experimental results.